In the case of North v. Peters, 1890, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over land ownership in Georgia. The plaintiff, North, claimed that he had purchased the land from an Indian named McIntosh who was given it by his tribe (the Creek Nation). However, defendant Peters argued that this sale was invalid as per federal law which stated that only the U.S government could purchase lands from Native American tribes. The court ruled in favor of Peters and upheld previous rulings stating that individuals cannot acquire title to tribal lands without federal approval or treaty stipulations allowing for such transactions. This decision reinforced existing laws regarding property rights and interactions between settlers and Native Americans.

In the dissenting opinion for North v. Peters, Justice Field disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a Georgia law that required all cotton factors (brokers) to take an oath promising not to advance money on cotton in their possession until it was weighed by a public weigher. He argued that this law violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it interfered with private contracts and deprived individuals of property without due process of law. According to Justice Field, requiring brokers to wait for official weighing before advancing money unnecessarily delayed transactions and put undue burden on them while providing no clear benefit or protection for either party involved in the transaction. He believed that such regulations should be left up to individual states rather than being mandated by federal legislation.